Imprisoned for a Trillion Years, I Was Worshipped by All Gods!

Old Gayle shot him a glance and said,

“Just listen to me first.”

“I heard you fought against Alice before,” he continued,

“But it was obvious she didn’t use her full strength in that encounter.”

“In truth, back when Alice was still active in the Imperial Capital, she would unleash a tremendous amount of mana Overpressure on every opponent she faced.”

“In fact, that Overpressure had already been etched into the very depths of her soul—

it had become a natural instinct for her.”

“Whether it was facing tier-platinum, tier-diamond, or even when I was invited to the Royal Family to help train these so-called prodigies, Alice still unleashed her mana Overpressure against me.”

“In her mind, fear and hesitation seem to simply not exist.”

“Perhaps it’s destiny,” Old Gayle sighed,

“Over the past few years, countless talents with incredible mana potential have emerged in the Plantagenet Kingdom, but even among them, Alice left the deepest impression on me.”

As he spoke, he glanced sideways at Alan and added with a soft sigh,

“You might not realize it yet, but even though you haven’t fully grasped mana Overpressure, there is already a trait within you—a trait even you yourself haven’t noticed.”

“What trait?”

Alan was genuinely surprised.

He had always believed he understood himself quite well, but apparently, there was something even he had overlooked.

Old Gayle took a swig from his flask and said,

“It’s hard to put into words exactly. Many people simply call it… belief.”

“Belief?”

“Yes!”

Old Gayle pointed toward the towering crystal giant that had formed from the shattered golems.

“Throughout history, countless legends have recorded stories like this—

mages with indomitable wills, who, even while their bodies were consumed by flames, refused to surrender as they fought to break curses binding their loved ones.”

“The so-called ‘resilience’ they showed—it’s just another form of this unyielding belief.”

“In this Plantagenet Kingdom, your raw strength is far from the strongest yet.”

“But I’m convinced that even if the Kingdom’s current strongest mage stood before you, you would still fight, struggle, and even risk your life without hesitation.”

“Because inside your heart, there exists a fierce, burning belief—

a refusal to be left behind.”

As he finished speaking, Old Gayle suddenly stomped hard on the ground.

With a rumble, Alan watched as the stone golems before him began collapsing—disintegrating into rubble.

Yet their mana cores didn’t fall to the ground or scatter among the debris.

Instead, they were drawn upward by an invisible force, merging together in midair.

Finally—

A massive crystal giant, radiating with strange, shifting lights across its surface, slowly rose and stood before Alan.

It was huge—

dozens of meters tall.

In front of it, both Alan and Old Gayle looked no larger than tiny ants.

Seeing Alan’s stunned expression, Old Gayle chuckled lightly.

“Scared?”

Alan shook his head.

“Not scared.

But… this crystal giant’s toughness must be many times greater than those stone golems from before, right?”

“You catch on quick.”

Gayle nodded approvingly.

“Indeed. The crystal giant’s defenses are the sum of all those shattered stone golems combined.

Every inch of its body is a core—

unless you grind it completely into powder, even a single remaining pinky finger could still be enough to crush you.”

“This is a true fight to the death:

either you pulverize it into dust,

or it reduces you to a bloody smear.”

“Alan, I believe you can do it.”

“In fact, back at Lioncrest Academy,

you already showed glimpses of developing mana Overpressure—

but only when Isabella was constantly in danger.”

“And that… is not good.”

“You know it too.”

“So today, this battle will temper you.”

“Today, you’ll learn how to unleash powerful mana Overpressure—

without depending on Isabella’s peril.”

Having said that, Old Gayle stepped back, retreating beyond the edges of the training field.

Leaving Alan alone to face the towering crystal giant.

HUMMMM—!

Suddenly, the crystal giant’s surface burst into an intense, blinding glow.

It raised its massive hand, large enough to blot out the sun, and brought it smashing down toward Alan.

Alan hurriedly dodged to the side—

but even so, the shockwave from the impact knocked him off balance, causing him to tumble across the ground.

“Well… the speed’s slower compared to before,”

Alan muttered, dusting himself off and bracing a hand against his knee as he stood up again.

“But the power behind those strikes… is insane!”

If this crystal giant was truly just an enhanced version of the previous stone golems,

then it must have inherited their critical weakness too:

its susceptibility to mana Overpressure.

But even knowing this, Alan still felt helpless.

As Old Gayle had said—

mana Overpressure wasn’t something tangible or teachable.

It could only be grasped through sudden insight.

Even with Alice as an example, Alan wasn’t sure he could replicate it.

Their backgrounds were too different.

Their worlds were too far apart.

Unless…

Unless someone overwhelmingly powerful stood before him,

demonstrating mana Overpressure firsthand in real combat—

Otherwise…

“Wait!”

Dodging another thunderous swipe from the giant,

Alan’s mind suddenly sparked.

A series of memories surfaced in his mind—

vivid and clear.

He remembered the magic train that had carried him and Isabella to the Imperial Capital.

He remembered the agents from the Church of Steam and Magic who had come looking for trouble.

And most of all—

he remembered the mysterious black-robed woman who had appeared, saving them from disaster.

That day,

she had fused the weakest Water Element into her Light Sword Spell—

and yet unleashed unimaginable destructive power.

Logically speaking,

the Church’s forces should have defended themselves with everything they had.

But instead,

they just stood there, frozen like statues,

as the black-robed woman calmly brought her sword down.

Now, thinking back—

it wasn’t just the sword’s power that had paralyzed them.

It was mana Overpressure.

Even though it was still the Light Sword Spell,

there was something different about it—

something overwhelming that made resistance impossible.

Alan frowned deeply.

The Light Sword Spell’s “light”…

was not merely referring to the Light Element.

He realized now—

any elemental force could be fused into the Light Sword Spell,

creating miraculous combinations.

It wasn’t limited to Light magic at all.

In fact, the very logic of the Light Sword Spell defied traditional elemental theory—

which stated that opposing elements should naturally repel each other.

(Like the classic conflict between Water and Fire Elements.)

This meant—

the Light Sword Spell wasn’t simply a “Light-element-based” attack technique.

It was a universal Sword Art—

one capable of burning, shredding, drowning, or crushing enemies depending on the elemental fusion!

All this time, Alan had been misled by the spell’s name,

assuming that it required Light Element as its foundation to achieve its maximum power.

But now—

He knew he had been dead wrong.

As memories of the black-robed woman’s swordplay flooded back to him,

Alan extended his hands and conjured two elemental longswords—

one in each hand.

Without using Light as a base,

the energy of these swords looked a little darker, less brilliant—

but their killing power had not diminished at all.

In his left hand, Alan held a blade crackling with a raging storm of wind.

In his right, a sword blazing with fierce, uncontrollable flames.

Wind fueling fire—

an unstoppable combination.

At the same time, in Alan’s eyes,

a violent Battle Spirit ignited.

A terrifying surge of mana Overpressure

began emanating from his body, rippling outward.

Across the ground,

the rubble left behind by the shattered golems started to tremble violently.

As if fearing some monstrous predator,

the stones rolled and shifted—

desperately trying to flee from Alan’s presence.